Healing Aids and Practices

Healthy Diet

Vegetables
Melanie Kuipers

“Weston Price showed us that the fundamental cause of disease is inadequate nutrition.” (Weston A. Price Foundation) When the body is not getting the correct nutrients, it is going to be more susceptible to illness of any kind. Eating whole foods (organic, if possible) that are compatible with your body type, eliminating allergens, fresh air and sunlight are all necessary for optimal health. See the Weston A. Price Foundation website for a more complete list.

Which is the best diet? You need to find a diet that works for you, individually. There are disagreements amongst dietary experts about which diet is ideal for humans, based upon experience, observation, and analysis of human physiology and biochemistry. You will find good arguments supporting the idea that the ideal diet for humans consists only of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and you will also find good arguments supporting the idea that an omnivorous diet, including some animal flesh, raw and cooked vegetables and grains, is ideal. There is also the idea that we should eat what our ancestors ate, due to our genetic heritage, and that is a form of biochemical individuality: our bodies may be genetically adapted to specific foods, and these may include animal flesh, animal products, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

My current belief is that humans should ideally eat foods made from raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, but we certainly don’t live in an ideal world, therefore, I know that such a diet will not work for everyone. Ideal food sources are difficult to find, and high personal and environmental stress might make such diet impossible to survive on for most people, even if ideal food sources were available. Biochemical individuality, personal health conditions, climate, and other factors need to be considered when designing a diet.

My ex-wife is a perfect example: at one time she attempted to become a vegetarian, but became progressively physically weaker, and eventually started dreaming of chickens and turkey! When she started including large amounts of animal flesh in her diet, her body became stronger. Was her failure on the vegetarian diet due to a poor choice of vegetarian foods, or did she have a real need to eat animal flesh? I don’t know, but I do know that my ex-wife had a need for very different food than myself. My ex-wife has Type O blood, and according to one theory, people with Type O blood require animal flesh in the diet for optimal health. There may be some truth to the idea that blood type determines what food is best for a person, but I know of people who have the same blood type as my ex-wife and thrive on a vegan diet, so I think that basing a diet solely on blood type is too simple an approach, but it may be a good place to start.

However, the dietary experts do seem to agree that including a large amount of raw fruits and vegetables in the diet is generally a good idea (there are exceptions), and that our food should be as close to nature as possible. Whole, organically grown or raised sources of food are always better than highly processed or refined foods containing pesticides, hormones, additives and preservatives, that have been pasteurized, homogenized or irradiated. The diet should be balanced, to include all of the nutrients the body needs but not more. Many people have dramatically improved their health by improving their diet.

Although I do believe that a raw vegan diet is ideal, it is something I have yet to put into practice. I am working towards eating an over 80% raw vegan diet, but I don’t know if it will work for me. There are four reasons why the raw vegan diet seems to me to be the ideal human diet:

Paul Nison, a 100% raw vegan for 15 years, had his blood tested, and since has decided to eat about 97% raw vegan because of the problems discovered in the blood test. The rest of his diet is now animal products, and he made some other adjustments to his diet. The 100% raw vegan diet is very difficult to practice without imbalances. Paul says that feeling wonderful is not assurance that a diet is safe. Paul explains all of this in detail in this excellent video, and this one too! Paul may have been eating too much fat and fruit and not enough green vegetables. That possibility is explained in this video by Victoria Boutenko.

I strongly believe that you are what you eat. The health of the body and mind is determined to a large degree by what we eat: with that in mind, eating pure and complete foods that can be efficiently assimilated by the body is best, but I believe which foods meet these criteria must be determined for each individual. However, I believe the “mental diet” is even more important: our thoughts, feelings, words and actions determine our health and happiness to a large degree.

Paramahansa Yogananda, who’s Guru is the great sage Swami Sri Yukteswar, wrote: “My guru was a vegetarian. Before embracing monkhood, however, he had eaten eggs and fish. His advice to students was to follow any simple diet which proved suited to one’s constitution.” Sri Yukteswar was not fanatical about the vegan diet, and took biochemical individuality into consideration with this dietary advice. Paramahansa Yogananda did not forbid his disciples from eating animal flesh except for beef and pork, but he did discourage it. The most important thing is to find a diet that works for you, and that may include some animal flesh or animal products.

Drinking plenty of relatively pure water and consuming natural salt is incredibly important. Many diseases are caused by dehydration and salt deficiency. I believe this is the most important health discovery ever made. I highly recommend the book, Water: For Health, for Healing, for Life, by the late Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, and also his website, WaterCure.com. You should consume at least 2 litres of relatively pure water daily. Lumière de Sel Himalayan Crystal Salt and Celtic Sea Salt are the best sources of unrefined natural salt. If you can’t afford expensive natural salt, try using inexpensive additive-free pickling salt instead. Consuming 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt per litre of water should help your body function better. See also WaterCure2.org for more excellent information on the health benefits of salt water. Joey Korn sells Celtic Sea Salt at great prices. You should also consume a multivitamin that contains iodine because sea salt does not contain enough iodine.

I prefer to use water energizers rather than water filters for purifying water because I believe they are much more effective. Water energizers are available from the Centre for Implosion Research and Alivewater.net.

Eliminating allergens from your diet or environment will reduce the stress on your body. There are various ways to determine what you are allergic to. My wife discovered the food that I was allergic to by using an advanced form of kinesiology (muscle testing).

I have had a long search for the ultimate supplement. There are a few exceptional supplement products that I have found:

Exercise Regularly